The flight from Chicago was great. Claire slept almost the whole time. She woke up at the very end of the flight just before we landed. Our layover in England was quick and kind of difficult. We had to go through security a second time, which proved to be very difficult as we had carried on so much stuff!
The flight from London to Geneva was easy enough. Claire was awake the whole time, but she was easily entertained. We had the shock of the century when we walked out to baggage claim and EVERY SINGLE ONE of our bags was already there on the luggage carousel waiting for us!
Nestle hired a driver to pick us up at the airport. It was a good thing he had a little trailer on the back of his van because we needed it for our 7 suitcases and 5 carry-ons! After a beautiful drive around Lake Geneva, we arrived at our hotel in Vevey. The hotel was very nice, with a wonderful view of the Lake. From our window, we could see a beach with a lot of people on it and there were even two swans on the beach (not us, but real swans)! Beyond the beach were the gorgeous mountains the we can see from all of Vevey.
After checking into the hotel and getting settled, we walked to a grocery store to get some food for dinner. Going into the grocery store was overwhelming, to say the least. Everything was written in French and the food is just so different. We ended up with a baguette, ham, cheese, fruit, and crackers. We walked over to the beach and enjoyed a little picnic there with a gorgeous view. Claire loved watching all the kids playing on the beach and at the adjoining park. This was a perfect first evening in our new town.
We then went back to the hotel and got ready for bed. At about 8, we were all very tired from our long journey, so we got in bed. Claire fell asleep pretty easily, as did Gordon. I was unable to sleep because I can never sleep in new places very well. At about 10:00, Claire woke up crying, so I gave her some milk and settled her back into her pack and play. She went back to sleep only to wake up again at about midnight. This time, she would not go back to sleep. She stayed up for about 2 hours, just playing around and jumping on the bed. At about 2, we were finally able to get her to go back down to sleep. We all had to get up at 8 a.m. because we had a 10 a.m. date with the relocation agent who would take us to our temporary apartment.
We lugged all of our luggage back down to the lobby and shortly after 10, the agent arrived, as did 2 taxis (for all of our stuff!). After a short drive, we arrived at our new home for the next three months. It's a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom apartment. It's clean and simple and the appliances are TINY!!! The fridge is about the size of the one I had in my dorm room in college. The oven is tiny too. Arriving at our apartment was pretty overwhelming for me. We had read before we came that the Swiss love to make and follow rules. Well, it's true! We are only allowed to use the laundry facilities on Tuesdays from noon to 6 p.m. I am going to have to get very creative about stain removal for my messy toddler. The garbage/recycling business is super confusing and we still don't know what we're doing with that. Food waste goes in one kind of bag, true garbage goes in another, and they separate and recycle everything. We are not sure exactly what gets recycled and what doesn't, so we have some homework to do.
After getting settled in the apartment and putting Claire down for a nap, we went to the bank to open a bank account. We officially have a Swiss bank account! We also went to the grocery store again to get food for dinner. Next, we went to a big department store to get some necessities. I can not believe how much French I have spoken already. Many of the people that we have encountered do not speak English, so I have had to speak French with them. It's challenging, but do-able. I am very happy that we chose to relocate to a country in which I could speak the language. I can not imagine doing this in a place where I didn't know any of the language!
Last night was pretty rough with Claire. She went to bed at 8, then woke up at 9:45, wanting to play. She didn't go back to sleep till about 1:30. I think that because of jet lag, she thinks bedtime is nap time and she wakes up ready to play. After she finally fell asleep, we all slept until 10:30 this morning! After a quick breakfast, we headed out again to finish our business at the bank and then did some more food and necessity shopping. It is fun to look at all of the different products in the stores here. Some things are almost the same as in the states, like Pampers diapers. And some things are so very different. Planning meals has been pretty challenging, but I think we will quickly get the hang of it.
So it is now our third evening in Switzerland. Claire is down for her 8 p.m. nap, I'm blogging, and Gordon is doing some homework on living in Switzerland. These first three days have been challenging, overwhelming, and difficult, but I do think that we are going to love it here.
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